January 06, 2012

Tarte SmolderEYES Limited-Edition Eyeliner Collection

The SmolderEYES Waterproof Eyeliner Collection was a limited edition set that came out for the holiday season. It's sold out on the Tarte website and Sephora.com, though you may have luck tracking it down in physical stores. I debated whether to do a review of this or not, but the format and formula of each pencil in this set is comparable to the regular, individual liners, so...what the heck.

The reflection of my hand taking the picture. Shiny!

When I ordered this set, I was expecting smaller-sized versions of the regular pencils, much like the Urban Decay 24/7 liner sets.

I was pleasantly stunned to realize that these were the same exact size as the individual pencils, and from the same manufacturer - 1.6 grams, made in Germany. (Sometimes makeup brands will throw together these awesome-seeming sets for the holidays, only they're made in China - or at least not by the regular manufacturer - and the quality ends up being a terrible representation of the brand. Seriously, why do that?)

This was priced at 39$, while a single pencil goes for 25$. Do the math. Did you get 7.80$? Yep, me too. That is an insanely good deal.

AND it comes with a sharpener!

Silver Black, Smoke, Espresso, Violet, Golden Beige, Moss.

These colors are exclusive to the set, and are not really comparable to any of the ones in the regular line-up. They all have a metallic sheen, and Silver Black, Violet and Golden Beige all have glitter as well. The glitter doesn't fall out as much as I was expecting, though you may experience more or less depending on whether you buff eyeshadow on top of the liner, or if you tend to rub your eyes. The glitter in Violet is fuchsia as opposed to silver, and lends that shade an incredible iridescence. Subtle, it's not. It's probably my favorite, along with Moss.

I also have the Olive shade from the regular line, and while I don't find that these equal the complexity of color visible in that one, these are still very beautiful, strongly pigmented shades that range from work-appropriate to WHOA MAMA.

These liners are marketed as waterproof, and boy are they ever. They dry down instantly, and remain pretty much unmovable until you take them off with an oil-based remover. Soap and water is not gonna cut it.

I haven't tried them on the waterline, but with the glitter and shimmer, I wouldn't be inclined to. They obviously work as eyeliners (though as big as they are that might be a challenge for finer lining) and are excellent as a smudged out shadow (work fast!) or as a base for a powder shadow.

Availability: Pretty much not, unfortunately. This was 39$ USD on Sephora and the Tarte website, though the price was closer to 50$CAD at the Sephora here in Montreal. Which is still a good price for a set like this, albeit painful to swallow with today's exchange rate.